[Guide] How to change fonts and code pages in PT client.

[tangodown]

Re: How to change fonts and code pages in PT client.

I did run into something in your tutorial that mentions "aasembly" and then "copying" to the executable. Do I copy from the CPU window? or from someplace else? Do I only need to copy the assembled line of code?
I was able to do this task, took me a few iterations to finaly understand the process.

What else is in that KPTTrans section that I can hook into?

 

[bobsobol]

Re: How to change fonts and code pages in PT client.

Yea... copying your edits from the image in memory, back to the file Image Olly keeps, and saving that off to a new Executable is covered quite eloquently in the guide by Gregoory that I link to.

What else is in KPTTrans? Hmm... well it contains every string (line of text) in the game client, and some from the server as well, and a few replacement or additional sub-routines.

The KPTTrans section it's self does not originate from quantumfusion (according to the credits) but is more a conglomeration of works by Shagpub, Sandurr and others. Not all the features it provides are (or even should be) utilised in the 1873 executable. Some probably should be. There are some translated strings for the in game guide and for GM notifications which still come up in gobbledy goop left over from the Korean text, though there are English versions in KPTTrans... they just haven't been linked in yet.

The in game guide is probably the most glaringly borked part of 1873. It pops up, but the "More >>>" link isn't translated, and doesn't work, presumably for the same reason that the guide from the system menu in game doesn't work. Personally, I find that guide more useful, interactive, and far less annoying than the beginner pet which was introduced later on to PT.

The KPTTrans section is used in many of the newer server packs executables too, and many of the extended subroutines are there for server use, and are not needed client side.

Please note, however, that I was not active on the scene when the KPTTrans section was developed, or even when QF built the 1873 executable... so I'm only filling in my understanding from what I've seen, and read here, on other forums and in the code it's self. Your interpretation of those information resources may differ, and the memories of others who frequent these forums less often than they once did (if at all) will surely be more accurate.

 

[tangodown]

Re: How to change fonts and code pages in PT client.

I am enjoying my new found ability to use Olly, I have done several edits and all were successful. I know that I have along way to go before I can call myself a bonifide RCE...lol You have been very instrumental in helping me develop what talents I now have...thanks for that assistance

 

[cloak]

Re: How to change fonts and code pages in PT client.

Hey Bobsobol, thanks for this great thread. As always you help the RZ community to become more knowledgeable on how the client works everyday. There is a flaw to your guide however. The font size becomes dreadfully small. I have been unsuccessful on editing it myself. Is it possible to add to the guide or post info on how to make the font a larger size here?

 

[bobsobol]

Re: How to change fonts and code pages in PT client.

There are many ways to make the font larger... especially if you are making a custom font specifically for your game. However the easiest method, I though was pretty obvious. If it slipped by you, I shall illustrate.

From the 6th figure in the tutorial, you can clearly see that the font name is only one of the parameters passed to GDI32.dlls' CreateFont() API.

You can find detailed information on this standard Win32 API on

You must be registered to see links

The parameters Weight (how emboldened) Width (character width) and Height (character height) allow you to change the size of the text to your hearts desire. The sizes are supposed to be in points, which is something like 1/100th of an inch assuming that all monitors have a dot pitch of 96 points per pixel. This is what Microsoft assume for ALL monitors, and in practice the assumption is ALWAYS WRONG. Then again, the only OS which does this correctly by default is Mac OS.

As a game developer, what you would really like to know is the size in pixels... sadly, if a point is 100th of an inch, and a pixel is 96 points the math gives you a silly big decimal fraction to match to, and you have to resort to an "artistic" approximation. Trial and error, until it "looks right".

A zero width, means the default width for the font height, and then point sizes will work in the game, much the same as they do in Word, or any other word processor... except that letter spacing is performed manually in Word... so the games' rendering of text is more like Wordpad, in fact.

What "looks right" will be different for each font, and many proportional fonts work very badly at any size, especially with the far east Asian clients which expect indographs (glyphs / characters) which are all the same size. All of which will increase the amount of artistic trial and error you need to perform to find something really, really nice.

Good luck, and happy hunting. :

 

[bkpro]

I dont know

There are many ways to make the font larger... especially if you are making a custom font specifically for your game. However the easiest method, I though was pretty obvious. If it slipped by you, I shall illustrate.

From the 6th figure in the tutorial, you can clearly see that the font name is only one of the parameters passed to GDI32.dlls' CreateFont() API.

You can find detailed information on this standard Win32 API on MSDN

The parameters Weight (how emboldened) Width (character width) and Height (character height) allow you to change the size of the text to your hearts desire. The sizes are supposed to be in points, which is something like 1/100th of an inch assuming that all monitors have a dot pitch of 96 points per pixel. This is what Microsoft assume for ALL monitors, and in practice the assumption is ALWAYS WRONG. Then again, the only OS which does this correctly by default is Mac OS.

As a game developer, what you would really like to know is the size in pixels... sadly, if a point is 100th of an inch, and a pixel is 96 points the math gives you a silly big decimal fraction to match to, and you have to resort to an "artistic" approximation. Trial and error, until it "looks right".

A zero width, means the default width for the font height, and then point sizes will work in the game, much the same as they do in Word, or any other word processor... except that letter spacing is performed manually in Word... so the games' rendering of text is more like Wordpad, in fact.

What "looks right" will be different for each font, and many proportional fonts work very badly at any size, especially with the far east Asian clients which expect indographs (glyphs / characters) which are all the same size. All of which will increase the amount of artistic trial and error you need to perform to find something really, really nice.

 

[bobsobol]

Yes, I'm sorry the image host has gone down, and I don't have a backup. I need to find time to recreate similar illustrations. (there's also a couple of blinding spell-checker mis-corrections :s)

I'm glad you figured it out in the end. Olly doesn't recognise header enumerations when assembling, only when Analysing and, of course, the push for the font name is a pointer to a string of characters. ^_^